In the traditional spinning reel construction, a depressible thumb button is pivotally secured to the reel casing and displaces a spinner head through an intermediate center shaft. As exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,481,554 and 4,156,510 to Hull, issued respectively on Dec. 2, 1969 and May 29, 1979, a pair of opposed sidewardly extending pivots adjacent the forward portion of the thumb button are often snapped into slotted pivot openings in the walls of the rear cover. One or more tabs integrally formed with the button, as depicted in the former Hull patent, may be included toward the rear of the thumb button to abut a ledge on the inner surface of the rear cover so as to confine the rearward pivoting of the thumb button away from the depressed position. Unrestrained pivoting of the thumb button occurs between the rearmost position and the rearward position, where the button engages the center shaft, when a biasing means is absent as in common in the prior art reel construction. Consequently, an undesirable rattling might occur as the thumb button swings within the reel housing. With the reel in a substantially upright position, the weight of the thumb button urges the same into engagement with the rotating center shaft which causes wear on the button as well as aggravating the rattling problem.
Additionally, when the thumb button is depressed from adjacent its forward edge or the button is urged in a forward direction, the pivots tend to disengaged from the pivot openings, which action is resisted only by the restraining force of the walls of the pivot openings on the captured pivots.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.